Hopes run high for 56 year-old ex-MILF combatant, colleagues

CAMP
DARAPANAN, Maguindanao -– Jacob Palao has been spending three days a
week as freedom fighter and spent remaining days earning for his family.

He has been
doing it almost all his life until a peace deal was inked by Manila and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014.
When the deal was forged, Palao and many of his contemporaries saw it
coming – at least a better life for him and his family, economically.

At 56, he
still dreamed of bringing his life out of poverty. A farmer all his life, Palao
did not stop dreaming that one day he will earn a decent living.

Image may contain 15 people people standing crowd and outdoor sand//scontent.fmnl4-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17352009_1652138168145927_6871757696383484038_n.jpg?oh=c594e9e950a7ad3d8193d9b7862321c8andampoe=595AF790 (MILF combatants no more. Former MILF members who turned over firearms as part of decomissioning process, wait for their turn to receive livelihood assistance - Photo by Rhod Benez/DXMS)

Palao was
weeping intensely when Irene Santiago, Office of the Presidential Adviser on
the Peace Process (OPAPP) implementing chair for Bangsamoro, handed him over
farm equipment so he and 126 other former Moro combatants can start productive
farming.

Palao and his
colleagues, now called former MILF combatants, were recipients of livelihood
assistance from the government as dividends of the Mindanao peace process.

Turnover
ceremonies was conducted Wednesday inside Camp Darapanan, the main MILF
headquarters in Barangay Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

I thought of
it but I didn’t expect it to come too soon, Palao told reporters in Filipino
after the turnover ceremonies. I never expect, at my age, that carrying guns
in the name of struggle will end and, instead, I will be carrying modern tools
for farming accompanied by a carabao, he said wiping his tears.

I can now
live peacefully with my family unlike in the past where I could not tell my
family whether I can come home alive or not after my tour of duty, he added.

Despite
decades of armed conflict, our being Filipinos, our brothers and sisters in the
eyes of God have prevailed among us, Palao said.

Palao and his
companions received agricultural interventions that include 103 carabaos, 83
cattle heads, goats, rice and corn seeds, rubber and fruit seedlings as well as
fertilizers.

Agriculture
Undersec. Ranibai Dilangalen who represented Agriculture Sec. Manny Pinol, said
these programs and commitment are manifestations of President Duterte's
imprimatur that the Bangsamoro peace process should proceed and the enabling law
should be fast-tracked.

Santiago said
the program is different from previous livelihood assistance extended to Moro
rebels who turned to farming to earn a living.

We are
looking at changes and these are not just giving and delivering this is about
making social change not only with the decommissioned combatants but also their
communities, Santiago said.

Santiago said the
process of normalization will undergo from transition to transformation not
only of the combatants but also their communities.

Peace advocate
and MILF Implementing Panel Member Prof. Abhoud Syed M. Lingga could not hold
his tears as Palao wept.

Palao’s gun,
an M-16 Armalite rifle, was among the MILF firearms turned over to the GPH-MILF
normalization panel and kept under the eye watch of foreign observers.

With livelihood
equipment at hand, Palao sees his children complete schooling, earn degree and
become productive citizens.